Most international brands and CEO’s of big automobile companies were present at the 11th edition of the Delhi Auto Expo 2012. Alan Roger Mulally, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ford Motors, along with many others attended the exhibition. The Auto Expo managed to pull in a large number of visitors who were as enthusiastic about the new launches as some of the CEOs like Alan Roger Mulally who termed the Indian automobile market as a ‘tremendous market’.
Ford Motors introduced its latest SUV EcoSport at the exhibition, which will be launched in around 100 markets worldwide, after the Delhi Auto Expo. Other brands like Audi, Jaguar, BMW and Mini also came out with new launches to attract visitors.
A majority of the new launches will hit the roads in the coming years. The auto enthusiasts are excited about the new vehicles; however, many are worried about how the additional cars will be managed on the already over crowded Indian roads. Currently in Delhi cars are owned by only a 100 people per thousand. Anumita Roychowdhury, Centre for Science and Environment, said “Imagine what it'll be like when we get to 450 cars per thousand like in the West.”
The rise in the number of cars on the Indian roads is not a new trend. The number of vehicles has slowly been growing since the economy opened up. This has led to problems related to ‘parking, urban planning and traffic management.’ In spite of all these issues, the Indian automobile market has grown at an exponential rate. According to Murad Ali Baig, Auto Analyst, more and more people are buying cars out of desire and not for utility. He says, “If someone wants to buy a car, they will go ahead and buy it. They won't wait for the parking to get better or the traffic scenario to improve.”
The auto market did not fare well last year, yet segments like diesel cars and two-wheelers managed to sell sufficient number of cars for the market to continue growing. The total car sales were 2.5 million last year. It is most likely that the Indian car market will continue to expand in the coming years. As per a report given by Ernst & Young, consultancy firm, ‘India's passenger vehicle sales and production is expected to grow between 14 to 16% by 2021, reaching over 9 to 10 million units annually.’
